Image copyrights: The Nature Conservation and Aquatic Sciences Service

Description
Size: 130-360 mm.

Color: Greenish brown, scales on sides with a lighter hind border, upper part of snout darker, cheek lighter. Border of upper lip pale with a green band above to below eye, two green streaks behind eye, lower lip with a green band upto rictus, a transverse green band on chin and a green band on interopercle. A green band along ventral midline upto vent. Scales of lower sides upto above base of anal with green streaks. Dorsal brownish with a basal green band breaking into spots posteriorly and a narrow green outer margin. Anal similar, with the outer green edge broader. Caudal pale, outer and inner sides of lobes with greenish bands, green spots and streaks in the middle, hind edge of fin greenish brown. Pectoral with upper rays green, base blackish above, greenish below, rest of the fin hyaline. Ventral somewhat hyaline, anteriorly edged with green, rays with greenish tinge.

Head 2.8-3.0 in standard length, 3.4-3.6 in total length. Depth of body 2.8-2.9 in standard length, 3.4-3.5 in total length. Eye diameter 5.7-6.7 in head, 1.9-2.6 in snout and 1.7-2.1 in convex interorbital space. Two rows of scales on cheek, preopercular flange naked. 4 predorsal scales. Lips rather broad, leaving about half of dental plate uncovered. Inner upper lip well developed, its connection with the outer slightly nearer to symphysis of upper jaw than to corner of mouth. Teeth whitish, upper lip covering most of the plates, lower lip more than half, one or two outwardly flaring canines posteriorly in upper plate, and sometimes one in the lower. Nostrils minute, adjacent, about one eye diameter before eye. Dorsal fin spines subequal, 1.7-1.9 eye diameter, rays slightly longer. Anal somewhat deeper than dorsal. Pectorals somewhat more or less than half snout shorter than head. Ventrals equal to head without snout. Caudal fin truncate, lobes slightly extended in large specimens. Pectoral fin 3/5 length of snout shorter than head.
Number of spines and rays in the dorsal fin: IX, 10; number of spines and rays in the anal fin: III, 9; number of rays in the pectoral fin: ii, 12; number of spines and rays in the ventral fin: I, 5; number of scale rows along the lateral line: 24; number of horizontal scale rows usually counted from origin of the dorsal fin to the lateral line and from anal origin to the lateral line: 2+1+6½.